AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
San Diego, California USA

2003 bottle from Alesmith release. Yummy. Black with no head. Potent alcohol (this has to be way above 12%), bourbon, vanilla, and oak aroma. Sweet thick chocolate, coffee, bourbon, and caramel taste with an amazing chocolate finish. Excellent. Overall: 5.0 2006 bottle from the BA (Bare Ass? No, Barrel Aged) release. Black with a brown creamy head. Cofffee roasty dark chocolate and vanilla aroma. Rich buttery palate. Bitter dark chocolate, coffee, bourbon and vanilla taste with some alcoholic warmth and an oaky finish. 4.9 total score

Incredible big thanks to mashmaster for that bottle. Bottle from 2006 - 132/233. Looks wonderful. The beer in the glass the same. Very dark, small creamy head. Could smell that wonderful soft-malty aroma all day long. Starts very strong and malty, not dry, soft as velvet, very complex notes of chocolate, coffee and liquorice. A little bit prickly-scratchy without being too much. Goes down warming and wonderful balanced. Very soft for a barrel aged beer of this strength. I love it!

Rating # 300. 2007 bottle with huge thanks to ajm. Shared with TheRealBastard. I sereved this one in a 26oz. frosted mug. Pour is an oily pitch black with a 2 finger milkshake looking head. Powerful aromas of burbon, huge roasted malt, fresh brewed coffee, wood, and nice caramel in the back. Flavor is very intesense throughout. Right up front with roasty goodness, going right into a hit of burbon, and finishing with coffee and vanilla. Holy hell, this is one of the most amazing and complex impys that I have ever encountered. All I can say is Wow!

Bottle saved from 2003 and shared by danielcurtis81 at his wedding reception. Pours pitch black with thin fading tan head. Nose contains some sweet chocolate and bourbon. The flavor is soft and smooth, a little sticky and creamy, not much to be said for carbonation but that just makes it taste more like a fine liquor. Very complex taste with bourbon, vanilla, sweet chocolate/cocoa, faint oak, caramel/nutty. Everything about this beer was simply amazing and it blew me away considering it was 6 years old. Best aged beer I have ever had...this is truly an example of how flavors improve with age. Dan, thank you so much for sharing, and I hope for your marriage to improve with age just like this brew!

A thin head the color of cocoa powder sits on top of the thickest darkest black imaginable. The aroma is enticing but the flavors are the payoff. Coffee and chocolate with vanilla hinting in the background. All rolling across the tongue like liquid velvet.The barrel aging produced remarkable results. Speedway is one of my all time favorites and I didnt think it could improve so much!

2002 Vintage-bottle #68 of 115: Color is pitch black with burgandy highlights. Head is thin and dark tan. Nose is chocolate fudge with a hint of brandy (or bourbon). Flavor starts chocolate followed by a light coffee bitterness, some vanilla notes and a hint of licorice. Rich sweet finish with a light alcohol burn. Barleywine like mouth feel is smooth, creamy and mellow. Another AWESOME brew from the magic of AleSmith!

Darkbrown. Bourbon aroma with tones of gingersnaps, dill, and some chocolate. Acid on the right level with the alcohol content clearly visible in the aroma. Bourbon flavour with sweetness. Tones of black currant, chocolate, dill and spices. Alcoholic and round. This beer is my no 500. Tottaly wacky in the best way there is. LOVE IT !!!

Re-rate... The second batch (originally brewed in 2003, bottle #11 of 125, I think) as of July, 2005, rocked even harder than the first. Smells like a S’more... coconut, chocolate and a campfire roasted marshmallow. My only complaint is that the coffee nuances are almost entirely sucked out of the beer and into the barrel. Who cares? Incredible brew!....Original rating.... First batch... bottle... Co-rated with Scraff... #40 of 115 bottles. This beer rocks! Pours midnight black with no color... even when held up to very bright light. Light brown, creamy head. The aroma is of vanilla, roasted hazelnuts, bourbon, dark chocolate, burned cherries, American white oak and alcohol. The flavor mirrors the aroma with bourbon, espresso, bitter-sweet chocolate and plenty of warm alcohol. Ridiculously full-bodied with an alcoholic mouthfeel and mild carbonation. Lengthy, bitter and burnt-as-hell, alcoholic finish. This is world class beer! Too bad they didn’t make more of it!